# Misunderstandings that changed history **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 3, 2018, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misunderstandings-that-changed-history/819066 "2018-08-03T19:55:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Alonzo\_John\_Blitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@Alonzo\_John\_Blitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alonzo_John_Blitz)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2018, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misunderstandings-that-changed-history/819066/1 "2018-08-03T19:55:03Z")
Hitler screaming at his generals as the Reich crumbles: _I said atom bomb, not autobahn!_ One can see how such a misunderstanding might have world wide effects not in accordance with those desired by the despot. What similar faux pas can you think of? ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2018, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misunderstandings-that-changed-history/819066/2 "2018-08-03T21:43:49Z")
The cleverest way is to create misunderstanding where there wasn’t any before to achieve your goal. Some people call that diplomacy, the more cynical and right people call it Realpolitik. The master was Bismarck with his [Ems Dispatch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ems_Dispatch). ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2018, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misunderstandings-that-changed-history/819066/3 "2018-08-03T22:02:02Z")
[The Charge of the Light Brigade](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charge_of_the_Light_Brigade) comes to mind, though I’m not sure whether it changed history per se or merely provided an interesting episode therein. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misunderstandings-that-changed-history/819066/4 "2018-08-04T01:36:49Z")
Kermit Tyler, the officer on duty on Dec. 7, 1941, who assumed the giant blip the radar operators reported was a group of B-17s being flown in from California. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misunderstandings-that-changed-history/819066/5 "2018-08-04T02:01:44Z")
the battle of new Orleans didn’t have ot happen due to the treaty being signed weeks before but us winning helped gain us some respect internationally ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misunderstandings-that-changed-history/819066/6 "2018-08-04T02:07:33Z")
In 1979, landlord Stanley Roper discovers he can eavesdrop on his tenants through the pipe under his sink. He overhears one of his tenants, Crissy Snow, talking about getting rid of a wart, but he misunderstands and thinks she’s pregnant and considering an abortion. Things would never be the same again! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misunderstandings-that-changed-history/819066/7 "2018-08-04T02:19:11Z")
In 1945, the US gave the Japanese an ultimatum asking them to surrender. The Japanese prime minister was asked about it. No decision had been made and he answered that he was withholding comment at that time. He used the Japanese word, “mokusatsu,” which has multiple interpretations. One was “to show silent contempt”; another was “to ignore.” Translators latched onto that, so the US figured they were not going to surrender. The atomic bomb was dropped ten days later. A correct translation would probably have prevented that. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misunderstandings-that-changed-history/819066/8 "2018-08-04T02:46:58Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > In 1945, the US gave the Japanese an ultimatum asking them to surrender. > > The Japanese prime minister was asked about it. No decision had been made and he answered that he was withholding comment at that time. > > He used the Japanese word, “mokusatsu,” which has multiple interpretations. One was “to show silent contempt”; another was “to ignore.” Translators latched onto that, so the US figured they were not going to surrender. > > The atomic bomb was dropped ten days later. > > A correct translation would probably have prevented that. This is a fairly common tale, but it should be noted that a lot of folks don’t buy it. Here’s wikipedia: "The consensus of modern historians is that the Allies had understood the word correctly. Chalmers Johnson wrote in 1980: ‘Since the characters for mokusatsu mean ‘silent kill,’ most informed commentators believe that the Allies did not mistranslate Suzuki. **If he really meant ‘no comment,’ that is not what he said -and mokusatsu does not imply it, even obliquely**. However, the fact that the Japanese and Emmerson maintain that Suzuki’s nuance was misunderstood illustrates the tendency of the Japanese to take refuge in alleged mistranslations.’" (My bolding.) I don’t know anything about Japanese, nor anything about Japanese-to-English translations, but the story has always seemed suspicious to me if only because in such a delicate situation you’d think Suzuki would take great pains to choose a word that has as little ambiguity as possible. He would not choose a word that could plausibly be construed to mean “ignore,” let alone “hold in silent contempt.” He’d choose a word that would be very difficult to misinterpret. He’d also presumably ask something like, “Um, okay, how much time do we have to think about it?” At the very best this one gets a “not proven” verdict. ---
**Author:** ![BobBitchin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@BobBitchin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobBitchin)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misunderstandings-that-changed-history/819066/9 "2018-08-04T02:47:37Z")
Clapton and Harrison had a misunderstanding about a lyric sheet and the word “bridge” (a song part) was mistaken for “Badge” the possible title and song topic for their collaboration of the moment. Wasn’t there a story that Steve McQueen blew off a party at the Tate or LaBianca house the night of the murders because he was having a (fight)misunderstanding with his GF/wife? Story goes, he rode off on one of his bikes after the fight. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misunderstandings-that-changed-history/819066/10 "2018-08-04T03:35:53Z")
Oh, I have another rather obscure one from catholic and sacred history, and it’s a very absurd one, like everything is absurd about catholic saints and their bones (which weren’t their bones anyway in most cases, but the bones of some other poor sucker): the story of[Saint Ursula and her 11,000 thousand virgins](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Ursula). By a translating/editing error the number of virgins went up from a mere 11 to a whooping 11k, and enough relics were soon to be found: > [@wiki](#): > > The Basilica of St. Ursula in Cologne holds the alleged relics of Ursula and her 11,000 companions.[10] It contains what has been described as a “veritable tsunami of ribs, shoulder blades, and femurs … arranged in zigzags and swirls and even in the shapes of Latin words.”[11] The Goldene Kammer (Golden Chamber), a 17th-century chapel attached to the Basilica of St. Ursula, contains sculptures of their heads and torsos, “some of the heads encased in silver, others covered with stuff of gold and caps of cloth of gold and velvet; loose bones thickly texture the upper walls.”[10][11] The peculiarities of the relics themselves have thrown doubt upon the historicity of Ursula and her 11,000 maidens. When skeletons of little children ranging in age from two months to seven years were found buried with one of the sacred virgins in 1183, Hermann Joseph, a Praemonstratensian canon at Steinfeld, explained that they were distant relatives of the eleven thousand.[5] A surgeon of eminence was once banished from Cologne for suggesting that, among the collection of bones which are said to pertain to the heads, there were several belonging to full-grown mastiffs.[10] The relics may have come from a forgotten burial ground.[12] Catholics and their obsession with old bones are a funny bunch. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misunderstandings-that-changed-history/819066/11 "2018-08-04T04:47:54Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > In 1945, the US gave the Japanese an ultimatum asking them to surrender. > > The Japanese prime minister was asked about it. No decision had been made and he answered that he was withholding comment at that time. > > He used the Japanese word, “mokusatsu,” which has multiple interpretations. One was “to show silent contempt”; another was “to ignore.” Translators latched onto that, so the US figured they were not going to surrender. > > The atomic bomb was dropped ten days later. > > A correct translation would probably have prevented that. Considering the fact that Hirohito had to force the issue of surrender, and was nearly assassinated as a result, I don’t think that a translation problem was the culprit. The fanaticism by a large part of the Japanese military was the real problem. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misunderstandings-that-changed-history/819066/12 "2018-08-04T15:03:58Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > In 1945, the US gave the Japanese an ultimatum asking them to surrender. > > The Japanese prime minister was asked about it. No decision had been made and he answered that he was withholding comment at that time. > > He used the Japanese word, “mokusatsu,” which has multiple interpretations. One was “to show silent contempt”; another was “to ignore.” Translators latched onto that, so the US figured they were not going to surrender. > > The atomic bomb was dropped ten days later. > > A correct translation would probably have prevented that. not sure that is entirely correct since the first bomb was dropped on Aug 6 and they didn’t throw up their hands and surrender. Nor did they surrender the day after the second bomb. May have been a misunderstanding but I don’t think they were planning on surrender right away. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misunderstandings-that-changed-history/819066/13 "2018-08-04T15:06:51Z")
The misunderstanding on the part of a radio operator led to an admiral losing all control of his emotions: “The World Wonders” [The world wonders - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_world_wonders) ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misunderstandings-that-changed-history/819066/14 "2018-08-04T16:53:19Z")
> [@BobBitchin](#): > > Wasn’t there a story that Steve McQueen blew off a party at the Tate or LaBianca house the night of the murders because he was having a (fight)misunderstanding with his GF/wife? Story goes, he rode off on one of his bikes after the fight. Everybody who is anybody in Hollywood claims they were supposed to be at Sharon Tate’s house in the night in question. If everyone who made such a claim actually went to her house, there would have been no murders, as they would have outnumbered the killers by at least 100 to 1. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misunderstandings-that-changed-history/819066/15 "2018-08-04T18:00:48Z")
The driver of the car that was carrying the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife when they visited Bosnia forgot that the route had been changed and took a wrong turn. When he stopped the car to put it in reverse, Gavrilo Princep had the opportunity to take his [shot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Archduke_Franz_Ferdinand#Fatal_shooting). ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misunderstandings-that-changed-history/819066/16 "2018-08-04T20:02:18Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > The driver of the car that was carrying the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife when they visited Bosnia forgot that the route had been changed and took a wrong turn. When he stopped the car to put it in reverse, Gavrilo Princep had the opportunity to take his [shot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Archduke_Franz_Ferdinand#Fatal_shooting). Oh yeah, that’s a good one! A deed done by mere circumstance, and the things which developed afterwards were crucial to the whole of 20th century history. ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misunderstandings-that-changed-history/819066/17 "2018-08-04T20:33:18Z")
[Günter Schabowski](https://www.economist.com/obituary/2015/11/07/one-little-word) [didn’t read the memo carefully](https://www.economist.com/obituary/2015/11/07/one-little-word)and the Berlin Wall came down. > [@](#): > > He had put it in his briefcase after a skim-read of it, and now had to work it out publicly with everyone listening. Uncharacteristically, the swaggerer began to stammer. “We have decided today…um…to implement a regulation that allows every citizen of the German Democratic Republic…um…to…um…leave East Germany by any of the border crossings.” > The question came: “When?” And he answered, scratching his head and shuffling papers, “Sofort”. Immediately. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misunderstandings-that-changed-history/819066/18 "2018-08-04T20:50:11Z")
> [@snoe](#): > > [Günter Schabowski](https://www.economist.com/obituary/2015/11/07/one-little-word) [didn’t read the memo carefully](https://www.economist.com/obituary/2015/11/07/one-little-word)and the Berlin Wall came down. Oh yes, that’s another good one. Schabowski wasn’t even present at the meeting of the Politbüro when this dubious and half-baked traveling regulation was resolved, and he read it as an afterthought at the end of a boring press conference and had no real idea what he was talking about. The most precious moment of the PC was when an American journalist asked Schabowski shortly after that: “What’s up with the Berlin Wall now?” Schabowski: “Er, well,…” silence…😃 ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misunderstandings-that-changed-history/819066/19 "2018-08-04T21:08:32Z")
Although things were rapidly drawing to a close, the end of WWII in Europe had a misunderstanding that effected how it went down. Hermann Göring sent a poorly worded [telegram](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6ring_Telegram) to Hitler in the bunker on April 23, 1945 outlining a plan for when Göring might take over the Reich. Due to poor communication at the time, the telegram was cut down from its original longer version. The edited version was used by Göring’s enemies (esp. Bormann) to suggest Göring was effectively starting a coup. Go Göring went from Hitler’s long time number 2 and successor to stripped of all positions and very nearly executed. After Hitler’s suicide Goebbels became the successor, but that was brief and then Dönitz became the head of the German state. The generals in Berlin wanted to capitulate the capital to the Russians fairly quickly, but they had to continue on until Goebbels took himself out. Similarly, Dönitz kept the war going longer than needed for various reasons. Including, but not only, getting as many troops west to surrender to the Western Allies. Lastly, the Allies considered Dönitz as …, well nothing after the military surrender. The result being was that the Allies took over completely all government command in Germany. This created an awkward situation as the pre-prepared civil surrender document had no one to officially sign for the Germans. So in June they just issued a [declaration](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Declaration_(1945)) saying they were in charge. Which was diplomatically suspect and had long term consequences. No peace treaty was possible until 1990. OTOH, if Göring’s telegram was understood correctly, after Hitler’s death it may have been the case that the war would have ended a bit sooner. But the real issue is what would the Allies do with Göring’s government? Would he have been allowed to name a non-Nazi successor government? That this government would then negotiate further with the Allies? That a single government would have continued under Allied supervision? Etc. (Cf. Austria, Italy, Japan.) ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misunderstandings-that-changed-history/819066/20 "2018-08-04T21:21:37Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > Considering the fact that Hirohito had to force the issue of surrender, and was nearly assassinated as a result, I don’t think that a translation problem was the culprit. The fanaticism by a large part of the Japanese military was the real problem. My understanding is the misunderstanding was whether the condition of “all government officials involved in harming the Japanese people had to resign” applied to the Emperor … in hindsight it apparently didn’t but it was unclear at the time … though I’m not sure this had much effect on history … Henry II of England’s knights misunderstanding thinking the King ordered them to murder Thomas Becket on the alter at Canterbury Cathedral … maybe the western half of present day France is still English territory if the Pope didn’t get so damn angry at Henry II … Cheesemakers would be Holy today … as they should be … “Don’t eat apples” … of course that means to eat apples, easy peasy … [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misunderstandings-that-changed-history/819066.md?page=2)